Lyle Bennet: Transdimensional Traveler!
by cruiscin lan
Summary: Even if he doesn't get much screen-time in the show, Lyle deserves a little attention! In this story, he finally gains a super-power - the ability to star in his own a cracky fic! Cast thus far includes the Bennet family, Mohinder, Sylar, and Elle!
1. Chapter 1

It was just another Sunday evening at the Bennet household, and after a long week they finally had a chance to all sit down and enjoy dinner together.

"So did anyone do anything particularly interesting this week?" Sandra Bennet asked, holding her dinner fork in one hand and Mr. Muggles in the other.

"Well, I killed Sylar, but he came back to life at the end of the eclipse," Noah Bennet offered, adjusting his glasses.

"Ah yes, and then we were briefly held hostage by him and his electric girlfriend until that lovely Japanese fellow arrived," Sandra recalled as she thoughtfully chewed on green beans.

"I went back in time and met myself when I was a baby," Claire said. "I even changed my own diaper."

"Did you drop yourself on your head, too?" Lyle, the lowliest of the Bennets, asked. "Because that would explain a lot."

Claire rolled her eyes. "Geez, Lyle, stop being such an asshole."

"Claire - watch your language," Sandra warned, bouncing Mr. Muggles on her lap. "And Lyle - stop bothering your sister." She fed a piece of her meatloaf to the dog, cooing over him while her children winced. "Now, Lyle, how was your week?"

"It was okay, I guess." This was why Lyle hated dinner conversation with his family. Even his most exciting days were nothing compared to the crazy things that happened to his family members all the time. It was like they were living in a television show - one-action packed adventure after another on Mondays at nine - except Lyle was only in the episode once in a while. Sure, sometimes he was thankful that he had the knack for missing the more dangerous house guests, but that meant he had no excuse not to get his math homework done on time. The only time he'd ever really gotten to be a hero was when he threw a bucket of water on that Elle girl - and that was less an example of quick-thinking on his part than an instinctual reaction developed from watching too man "Girls Gone Wild" films (Instant nipple sightings - just add water).

The more he thought the more he lost his appetite. Lyle sighed. "May I please be excused?"

"You aren't going to finish your meatloaf?" Noah asked his son.

"I'm not hungry," Lyle replied.

"All right, go ahead," Noah said, turning towards his golden child, Claire, as they continued their discussion of near-death experiences and superpowers.

Lyle cleared his place, scraping the leftover crumbs of meatloaf into Mr. Muggles' food dish and dropping the plate and silverware into the sink, and headed upstairs to his room.

When he opened the door, Lyle Bennet found himself face to face with another Lyle Bennet.


	2. Chapter 2

Lyle stumbled backwards in complete surprise.

Lyle _also_ stumbled backwards in complete surprise.   

"Oh my God!" both Lyles exclaimed once they regained their balance. Thinking quickly, one Lyle pulled the other Lyle into the bedroom and shut the door behind him.  

"We need to talk," said Lyle.  

"Obviously," Lyle replied.

"What's going on? Who are you? What are you doing here?" There were more questions, endless questions, running through his head that he couldn't even even express. Why was he so attracted to this handsome fellow? Would it be gay to kiss someone who looked exactly like himself?  

"I'm Lyle Bennet," Lyle said. "I'm guessing you're Lyle Bennet, too. This is probably your house and your bedroom, and it's your family downstairs, isn't it?"  "Yes, but I don't understand..."  

"You might want to sit down, Lyle," Lyle told him. "Have I got news for you."  

Lyle sat down on the end of his bed, the mattress sinking beneath him, while Lyle pulled the chair away from his desk and sat facing Lyle.  "Listen, Lyle. There are infinite universes - alternate dimensions, if you will - parallel to your own. Some of them are incredibly similar to yours, while others are very, very different."  

"So you've come here from a parallel universe?"  

"Exactly."  

"When?"  

"A few days ago. You'll find, when you start traveling across dimensions, that it often causes strange occurrences in the dimensions. When I came across to this one I caused a total worldwide solar eclipse that lasted half-an hour."  

"That doesn't make any sense." Lyle was only in high school, but he knew that solar eclipses couldn't possibly last that long, and couldn't be seen from all points on the planet at once. Besides that, there had been a solar eclipse less than a year ago, and they didn't occur all that often. Lyle brought his finger to his chin and furrowed his brow, trying to think of where he was when this supposed eclipse occurred, but his week had been so boring that he couldn't remember.  

"I know. There are lots of scientists and philosophers and fanwankers working out their own theories about transdimensional travel, but you, Lyle Bennet, are the only person capable of going from one parallel universe to another."  

"Wait - how do you know this?"  

"One day when I got home from school I ran into another Lyle, just like you did just now, and he explained it to me."  

Lyle thoughtfully chewed on his lip, trying to correlate this power to something he was already familiar with. "So is this a special ability like Claire's?"  

"Who's Claire?" Lyle Bennet asked.  

"My sister. She's adopted."  

"That's cool. Is she hot?"  

"Dude, you can't be serious. She's your _sister_."  

"Not where I come from, she's not," Lyle began to argue before he shook his head, trying to stay on task. "Never mind. We have more important things to discuss, anyway. Do you know if you've ever tapped into this power before?"  

"I've never run into another Lyle before, if that's what you're asking," Lyle told Lyle.  

"Well, that's only the most obvious indication. There are others as well." Lyle leaned forward, his voice low and business-like, like a psychiatrist's. "Have you ever noticed sometimes when things are just a _little_ off? Have unusual things happened sometimes, and then you never hear about them again?"  

Lyle pondered that for a moment. In fact, unusual things were occurring with greatly increasing frequency, but he _did_ hear about them afterwards - he just never seemed to be around in the first place. "I always seem to miss all the exciting things that go on around here."  

"They could be instances when you slipped into another dimension and came back to your own without even noticing. If you want, I can teach you to use that power on purpose to travel back and forth between dimensions on purpose."  

"Sure, that'd be cool, I guess," Lyle replied.  Lyle turned his attention away from Lyle for a moment when he noticed a few photos lining the surface of Lyle's desk. He pointed to a picture of the family's Pomeranian and asked, "Whose dog is this?"  

"That's our dog, Mr. Muggles," Lyle told him.  "That's so weird. Where I come from we have a dog named Mr. Muggles too, but he's a Dalmation." His gaze wandered across the desk until his eyes fell upon another photograph. "Is this your sister?"  

"Yeah, that's Claire."  "Dude, she _is_ hot." Suddenly a plan hatched in Lyle's mind. He wouldn't help Lyle learn how to use his power at all - he would send this Lyle into another dimension and assume his identity. Reaching out, he grabbed Lyle by the shoulder, and in an instant-cut-away-special-effect shot, Lyle had vanished, leaving only one Lyle behind.  Lyle smiled evilly as he gazed at Claire's photograph on the desk. "I'll get you, my pretty," he told her image. "And your little dog, too!"


	3. Chapter 3

_When we last left our intrepid transdimensional traveler, he'd just been flung into another dimension by another version from himself from another dimension... or had he?_

He'd felt like his body was splitting at its seams, like every particle of himself was being rearranged, like he'd been put through a blender several times on the "pulverize" setting. He wanted to vomit, he wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to lie down...

And, suddenly, he realized he was.

"Whoa," Lyle muttered, using one hand to rub his head and the other to get up. His head was still spinning. Slowly he sat up as the pounding subsided. He was in his bedroom, and everything seemed wonderfully normal.

For the first time he could remember, he was relieved to see Claire already seated at the table, helping herself to the waffles in front of her.

"What's the matter, Lyle?"

"I just had a very strange dream. That's all. Is Dad around? Where's Mom?"

"Dad left early for work," Claire said, rolling her eyes for emphasis, "as usual. Mom took Mr. Muggles out for a walk."

"Okay," Lyle said, rubbing his temple as he took a seat. He poured himself some juice but let the waffles be - he didn't quite feel up to eating just then. He was still trying to figure out what had been real and what had... not been real. "Can I ask you a weird question, Claire?"

"Do you ask any other kind?"

"I didn't... or someone that looked like me... I didn't try to hit on you last night or anything, did I?"

Claire's lips curled downwards in an expression of disgust. "Excuse me, I've got to go vomit now," she muttered as she pushed herself away from the table. "Listen, Lyle, you better stop being weird and start getting to school. I don't want to be late because of you."

"I was... just... making sure," Lyle halfheartedly called after Claire as she disappeared back upstairs. After she vanished from his view, he heard the jingling of a dog collar and the fiddling of the front doorknob as his mother let herself back inside. He couldn't ever remember being so happy to see his mother before as he got up from the table and walked, smiling, into the foyer.

"Hey, hon," Sandra said. "Did you get something to eat?"

"Yeah, Mom," he replied. "But who's this?" he asked, looking at the lumbering Great Dane who followed his mother inside. "Was he lost or something?"

Sandra cocked her head to the side, her smile askew. "Now, Lyle, don't be silly." She knelt down to the tile, embracing the large canine, letting him slobber all over her face. "Now, Mr. Muggles, don't listen to that silly boy. He must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Lyle swallowed the lump growing in his throat as he struggled not to panic. "_That's_ Mr. Muggles?" he asked, shaky and unsure.

"Yes, Lyle, of course it's Mr. Muggles. You think I could find such a handsome replacement?" Sandra remarked as she got back on her feet. "Are you feeling all right, sweetie? Did you eat breakfast yet? You know how lightheaded you get on an empty stomach."

"Mom, I'm..." Lyle began before realization sunk in. It hadn't been a dream. "You're _not _my mom. You're some _other_ Lyle's mom. I'm in some kind of alternate dimension!"

Sandra froze in place. "Lyle, what are you talking about?"

"Do you realize what this _means_?" Lyle asked, the panic rising in his voice. "The evil Lyle is in _my_ place, and he's... Oh, no! He's probably hitting on Claire right now!"

"Lyle, you need to calm down!" Sandra shouted, dropping Mr. Muggles' leash to the ground as she grabbed Lyle by the shoulders. "What are you talking about, alternate dimensions and hitting on Claire? She's your _sister_, for Chrissakes!"

"I _know_!" Lyle shouted back, horrified. "That's why it sucks!"

"You need to... you need to sit down," Sandra said, guiding Lyle back into the kitchen to a chair.

Claire came down the stairs, looking quizzically at the two of them. "Did someone call me?" she asked.

Sandra shook her head and clucked her tongue. "Your brother's not feeling well, you better head off to school without him." Claire rolled her eyes again, muttering something that sounded distinctly like "faker" under her breath, as she slung her bag over one shoulder and patted the Great Dane on the head on her way out.

Lyle's mind was racing as he listened to his mother's double on the phone with his father's double. "He's acting crazy, Noah. I think you need to come home, quick."

The other Lyle had told him that _his _Mr. Muggles was a dalmation, but that other Lyle also didn't have a sister. Lyle held his head in his hands as he wondered what else might be different in this universe. He wondered where this world's Lyle was. Mostly, he wondered if he'd ever be able to get home again.

"What do you mean, you're sending someone over? Honey, I think Lyle needs _you_ right now," Sandra continued on the phone. "All right. All right, Noah. Well, I'm not going to let him go to school today, so anytime would probably be fine. Love you too, hon." The phone beeped as Sandra pressed a button and set it on the kitchen counter. "Your father is sending someone from the Company to talk to you, Lyle sweetie. He says he'll be able to help."

"Will he be able to send me back home?"

Sandra hesitated. "Sure thing, hon," she finally told him. "Can I get you an aspirin or anything?"

"No thanks," Lyle replied. He knew when he was being patronized.

Lyle sat in stone silence at the table while Sandra fluttered from room to room, starting chores but not finishing them, as they both waited for the Company specialist to arrive. Finally the doorbell rang, and Sandra flew to the door theatrically, opening it widely to allow a handsome Indian man in a lab coat inside.

Lyle recognized him from his father's job. "Dr. Mohinder Suresh?" he asked.

"Indeed," Mohinder replied. "Your father sent me to evaluate you. Your mother seemed quite upset on the phone with him earlier, he said."

"Doctor, he's out of his mind," Sandra told him. "He was ranting and raving this morning about _hitting_ on his _sister_," she whispered, as though afraid she'd set Lyle off again.

"Well, I suspect he's just experiencing some normal teenage angst. Or perhaps he suffered a sharp blow to the head. Either way, let's commence with a psychological evaluation."

"Wait," Lyle asked. "I thought you were just a professor. You can perform psychological examinations?"

"Well, yes," Mohinder answered. "I _am_ a genetics professor. I'm also a licensed psychologist, pharmacist, and medical doctor." Sandra looked impressed as Mohinder added, "I specialized in obstetrics and gynecology."

"You went to school for all that?" Lyle asked.

"Didn't need to," Mohinder replied. "All I had to do was get the lab coat. The credentials came with it."

Lyle gulped. He was in for a long, long day.


	4. Chapter 4

Lyle found himself suddenly in Mohinder's lab in New York. He blacked out and couldn't tell how he got there; somehow he'd travelled east across several time zones and it was still around the same time it was when they left Costa Verde.

But for Lyle, stranger things had happened. He decided to let this one slide. During the psychological evaluation, Lyle explained carefully to Mohinder what had happened, and Mohinder seemed to believe him. He even agreed to help Lyle find his way back home, claiming to know just the way to do it. He was also kind enough to make lunch, and as Lyle hadn't eaten an adequate breakfast, he vacuumed up his food in the way that teenage boys often do.

Mohinder stood across the table from Lyle, a syringe in one hand, a cup of chai in the other. "Now, Lyle, do you have any questions about anything?" Mohinder asked, taking a sip (from the chai, not the syringe).

Lyle briefly considered asking how Mohinder coordinated his travel arrangements, but he remembered his earlier resolution to let that one go. Instead, he stood up, holding his plate in one hand as he continued shoveling forkful after forkful. Taking in the scenery of the lab around him, Lyle's gaze fell on a framed photo sitting prominently on Mohinder's desk. In it, Mohinder had his arms wrapped around another man, both smiling widely, as though caught in the middle of laughing. But in spite of the subjects' apparent happiness, Lyle felt his stomach turn as he examined the picture more closey. "Is this... is this Sylar?"

"Oh, yes, that was when we backpacked through Europe together last summer. Isn't he a catch?"

Lyle struggled to swallow a mouthful of food before he choked. "Wait, are you... are you _dating_?"

Mohinder smiled as he set his chai down, walking over to Lyle and patting him on the shoulder. "He's my boyfriend," he explained. "We're actually quite committed to each other." Mohinder sighed contentedly as he lifted the photo up, gazing at Sylar's image with lust in his eyes.

Lyle tried to set down his plate, but in his clumsiness he knocked a few other items on the desk into disarray. He quickly tried to clean up his mess before a few Polaroids fell out of a folder he held. Mohinder reacted too slowly to stop him as Lyle bent over to pick them up from the floor.

Lyle held them in his hands, carefully turning them over and flipping through them as a horrified recognition came over his face. "Holy Robert Moses!" he declared. "It's that electric bitch! And you! In compromising positions! _In flagrante!_"

"Lyle, she's just... it's not what it looks like... we're just _friends_..." Mohinder stuttered, setting the framed photo down in order to snatch the pictures out of Lyle's hands. His breaths were shallow with panic as he asked "Can this stay between me and you? Neither of them need to know about the other, right? It would just be better for everyone. Ignorance is bliss, after all."

"Whatever," Lyle replied, rolling his eyes. He was already emotionally scarred enough as it was, thinking of his double trying to hit on Claire in his original universe; a few more colorful mental images weren't going to kill him. He would do his best to avoid Sylar and Elle anyway, as they were crazy enough already without throwing in the knowledge of being cheated on. He certainly wouldn't want to get caught in the crosshairs, between two of the most frightening, dangerous people he'd ever met.

He thought it prudent to change the subject back to the reason why he was there - Mohinder was supposed to help him return to his original universe, right? "So what are you giving me?" Lyle asked, gesturing to the syringe Mohinder still clutched in one hand.

"This is a formula I came up. If you have a superpower already, it might help jump-start it. If you don't have a superpower, it might give you a new one. Of course, I haven't tested it yet, so it might not do either of those things."

"You haven't tested it yet?" Lyle halted, mouth agape. He crossed his arms protectively against whatever might come at him.

"Well, I tested a previous version on some mice."

"Did it give them superpowers?"

"No," Mohinder replied, shaking his head sadly. "They all died before I could determine whether it did or not.

Lyle wasn't the brightest student, but he was pretty sure of a cause-and-effect relationship when he saw one. "I don't want the injection, then, thank you," he said curtly.

"Oh, it's not an injection," Mohinder told him. "It's meant to be taken orally. I just put it in the syringe because it was easier to put on your food that way."

"You mean I've already..." Lyle gulped.

"Yes, Lyle, you've already ingested the formula. Now we just need to wait and see what happens!" said Mohinder cheerfully.

"Oh, no!" Lyle groaned, sinking into a seat at the table. He held is head in his hands, pressing his palms into his temples to try and relieve the headache he felt coming along. And then, just when Lyle thought it couldn't get any worse, it did.

A figure emerged from the bedroom doorway (because in this universe, Mohinder lived in his lab, Lyle determined) pulling a shirt over his head. He yawned as he ran a hand through his hair. "Oh, Mohinder, what a night!" he said. "I'm sorry I slept so late, but man..." As the shirt came down, Lyle finally caught a glimpse of his face - it was Sylar.

Just then there was a knock at the door, and Lyle couldn't get up and away fast enough to answer it. Unfortunately he regretted it as soon as he flung the door open.

"Oh, Mohinder, I _need_ you right now," the blonde in the threshold moaned. "There's nothing sexier than a man in a lab. Take me, I'm yours!"

Lyle cringed, caught between a rock and a hard place. Mohinder froze where he was by the lab table, lip quivering with fear.

Elle and Sylar locked eyes for a moment, an expression of realization and recognition passing between them.

Sylar looked at her. "Elle," he said breathlessly. "It's certainly been a while."

"It certainly has," Elle agreed, her cheeks blushing prettily.

"Oh, Elle," Sylar said, stepping towards her as though pulled by a magnet.

"Oh, Sylar," Elle replied, her voice wistful as she, too, came closer.

"You can call me," Sylar said, pausing for dramatic effect, "_Gabriel_."

"Whatever rocks your socks," Elle told him, tilting her head back to invite a passionate kiss from him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her passionately. The passionate kiss was very passionate as they passionately kissed.

"Wow," Lyle said, taken aback. "That is a passionate kiss. This fic maybe should be rated PG, that's how passionate that kiss is." Lyle could tell there was _definitely _tongue.

Gabriel and Elle sighed as they unlocked their lips. Elle nuzzled her face into Gabriel's shoulders as Gabriel looked Mohinder square in the eye. "Goodbye, Mohinder. I'm a changed man now that I've found my true love once again. I'm leaving you."

"Me too," Elle purred happily.

"No, wait, guys!" Mohinder cried out, dropping the syringe to the floor. "You can't do this to me!"

"Later, Fight Club," Elle said, smiling sinisterly as she pointed her finger and zapped the scientist. Then she and Sylar or Gabriel or whatever his name is rode off romantically into the sunset together. Then they got married and had ninety babies.

Mohinder collapsed against the slate tabletop in tears as Lyle began to feel a little... funny. It felt like his body was splitting at its seams, like every particle of himself was being rearranged, like he'd been put through a blender several times on the "pulverize" setting. He wanted to vomit, he wanted to cry, he wanted to scream, he wanted to lie down...

It was happening again. Lyle Bennet was transdimensionally traveling.


End file.
